Friday, July 22, 2016

Grand Imperial Chinese Restaurant (喜粤海鲜酒家) @ The TOP, KOMTAR.

The TOP, one of the State Government's efforts in restoring the previous glory of Kompleks Tunku Abdul Razak (KOMTAR) has finally materialized and the new food & beverage hub has finally opened its doors to the public recently. Gourmands would be glad to know that the place is expecting quite a number of tenants moving in and Grand Imperial Chinese Restaurant is definitely one of the notable ones. Grand Imperial is certainly one big name that you should have heard of, the brand has many branches nationwide (with one branch at London). We did not get to try their usual offering but managed to check out their daily Dim Sum menu. There are two ways to get to "The Top"- enter from KOMTAR Walk and proceed with the escalators or via the multi-storey Car Park opposite to Pos Malaysia/ Maybank at KOMTAR; we used the latter option. We saw a familiar scene at the dining hall but sans the Dim Sum carts and customers perpetually lingering around. Servers frantically churn out a variety of Dim Sum dishes- diners are to place their orders and the servers will serve them when the dishes are ready (instead of choosing your preferred Dim Sum dishes over the counter). For the comfortable and elegant ambiance, the cost is at a bargain... with most dishes priced in the range of Rm 5 to 9.......

Siew Mai/ Steamed Pork & Shrimp Dumplings (鲜虾烧卖/ Rm 6)

Baked Egg Tarts (蛋挞/ Rm 5.70)

Ham Sui Kok/ Deep Fried Chicken Dumplings (鸡肉咸水角/ Rm 6)

Har Kao/ Steamed Shrimp Dumplings (虾饺/ Rm 6)

Steamed Chee Cheong Fun- Shrimps (鲜虾肠粉/ Rm 7)

Steamed Fish Balls (清蒸鱼卖/ Rm 5.70)

Deep Fried Yam Roll (酥炸芋角/ Rm 5.70)

Cha Siew Bao/ Steamed BBQ Pork Bun (蜜汁叉烧包/ Rm 5.70)

Lau Sha Bao/ Salted Egg-Custard Bun (流沙包/ Rm 6)

None of the delicate Cantonese delicacies disappoint at Grand Imperial but their Siew Mai left us with the deepest impression. Sliced Meat was used in the Pork Dumplings... in lieu of the skimp-conventional Minced Meat. The texture was great- firm with a meaty bite, even better with the addition of crunchy Shrimp. Equally delicious was their Lau Sha Bao, though in dainty portion; the filling was nicely done. It possessed a gritty texture with mellow Salty-essence and expertly sweetened. Dim Sum dishes were above par but the wait was a little long; worth a visit nevertheless.